Asteroids Preview

Share.

Glu gussies up the arcade classic for mobile.

By Levi Buchanan

Glu revisits the classic arcade scene with a new mobile update of the Asteroids, the old-school vector shooter that pitted one ship against a zillion cosmic rocks. The update is modeled after Glu's successful reworking of Centipede, which offered both a classic mode and a contemporary mode full of refreshed graphics and new weapons. IGN Wireless has taken the refurbished Asteroids for a test drive -- and the results seem on track to satisfy fans of the moldy quarter-muncher.

The updated Asteroids can be tweaked with a series of themes that affect both the backdrop and the sprites. In the new Virus theme, deep space is replaced with a "Fantastic Voyage"-esque trip to the cellular level while asteroids become nasty bugs and pulsing blobs. In Virus, you must also watch out for icky cells that glom on to your ship and siphon away shields. To escape the parasites, you must use your hyperspace technique. The Techno theme maps the action against a twisted grid and turns the rocks into geometric shapes, like dodecahedrons. The Modern theme just turns the pitch black heavens into something out of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos," complete with planets and star fields.

New weapons include a spread shot, burning laser, and a homing missile. Of course, if you're something of a purists and don't want the extra firepower, you can easily switch back to classic mode and try to survive the torrent of rock with the old-school "pew-pew."

Glu is prepping Asteroids for release later this summer. Feast your peepers on these screens of the updated classic and check back for a full review.